Web feed mechanism for rotary multicolor printing press



April 2o, 1965 A. J. Evi-:Rs 3,1 79,045

WEB FEED MEGHANISM FOR ROTARY MULTICOLOR PRINTING PRESS Filed Dec. 12, 1965 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 10 F/G. H1.

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BYNPMM April 2o, 1965 WEB FEED MECHANISM FOR ROTARY MULTICOLOR PRINTING PRESS Filed Deo. l2, 1963 A. J. EVERS 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 l lll \I :Llullllul FFII-TT Il llll BLMM United States Patent O 3,179,045 WEB FEED MECHANISM FR ROTARY MULTI- COLOR PRINTING PRESS Arthur J. Evers, 136 Hicks St., Brooklyn, N.Y. Filed Dec. 12, 1963, Ser. N0. 330,131 :17 Claims. (El. lill- 181) This invention relates to web feed mechanism, and more particularly to such mechanism used for a web which is to be accurately fed, usually for registration purposes.

In the illustrated example of the invention the web is being fed to a multicolor printing press. Gear adjustments may be made manually by trial and error to bring the different colors into registration. However, it is difiicult to maintain the initial registration, and I have found that a dramatic improvement in this respect may be made if the web is fed to the press by feed means which keeps the web taut and which grips the web positively. The grip on the web must be much greater and tighter than is attainable by running the web between opposed pressure rolls which pinch the web.

I have found that the desired improvement may be obtained by using a considerable number, say tive feed rollers, around which the web is passed in zig-zag formation. The rollers are closely nested, but are separated more than the web thickness, so that there is no pinching of the web between any two of the rollers. However, the nesting preferably is so close that the web is wrapped around substantially more than half the periphery of most of the rollers. All of the feed rollers than are driven in unison.

To accomplish the foregoing general objects, and other more specific objects which will hereinafter appear, my invention resides in the web feed mechanism and other apparatus, and their relation one to another, as are hereinafter more particularly described in the following specication. The specification is accompanied by drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a small schematic drawing explanatory of the invention;

FIG. 2 is a side elevation of a multicolor printing press combined with feed mechanism embodying features of my invention;

FIG. 3 is an end elevation of the same; and

FIG. 4 is a section at line 4*-4 of FIG. 3, to show the planetary gearing.

Referring to the drawing, and more particularly to FIG. l, the web feeding mechanism comprises a plurality of feed rollers 11, 12, 13, 14 and 15', around which a web 16 leaving mill roll 18 is passed in zig-zag formation. The five rollers 11-15 are closely nested, but are separated more than the web thickness so that there is no pinching of the web between the rollers. The rollers are driven in unison by gearing which is not shown in FIG. 1, but will be described later with reference to FIGS. 2, 3 and 4. lt will be noted later in FIG. 2 that the feed rollers are nested so closely together that the web is wrapped around substantially more than half the periphery of most of the rollers.

The apparatus to which the web is being fed includes a multicolor printing press generally designated 20. There are four printing cylinders 21, 22, 23 and 24, each with a mating impression cylinder 31, 32, 33 and 34. The web leaving the mill roll passes around a direction-changing idler 26, and after leaving the five feed rolls passes around another direction-changing idler 28. Between the printing cylinders 22 and 23 the web may be led downward around a direction-changing idler 36. On leaving the printing press, the web passes around an idler 3S and is led to a dryer 46, and then to a cutter-creaser generally designated 42.

3,179,945 Fatented Apr. 20, 1965 rthe printing press 20, the cutter-creaser 4l), and the web feed mechanism 11-15 are all driven by a suitable main drive shaft here indicated at 46, with symbolic drive connections at 4S, 5l), and 52. Differential gearing generally like that of a running-register 54 is interposed and is made effective as between the printing press 2l) and the feed mechanism. In FIG. l, the differential gearing is shown located in the connection 50 between drive shaft 46 and the feed mechanism. There is also an auxiliary drive which may include ordinary ratio gearing and a positive infinitely variable drive (PIV) 56, driven by main shaft 46 whether indirectly, or directly as shown in FIG. 1. This feeds some speed change motion into the differential gearing, as is indicated symbolically in FIG. 1 by connection 58 to a worm 60 meshing with a worm gear 176 in the differential gearing. It Will be evident that adjustment of the PIV 56, as by means of control handle 167, affords precise adjustment of the rate of feed of the web relative to the linear speed of the printing press. In practice I have found it desirable to maintain the web very taut in the printing press, and for this purpose the feed rollers are driven at a linear speed very slightly less than that of the printing press. To accomplish this the main drive represented at Sti drives the feed rollers at a slower linear speed, and the auxiliary drive 58 feeds forward motion into the feed rollers to reduce the difference to exactly the desired minute amount. However, it will be understood that theoretically the feed rollers and printing press may be driven initially at identical speed, or the feed rollers driven faster, and the auxiliary drive 58 would then be used to feed a slight amount of reverse or subtractive motion into the feed rollers, with the net effect of keeping the web very taut.

It will be understood that the cutter-creaser includes feed rollers of its own. In the present case it is a rotary cutter creaser. The main synchronism is provided by the common drive shaft 46. Reinements for exact register are also added, but are not here shown.

Referring now to FIG. 2 of the drawing, the four printing cylinders 21, 22, 23 and 24 are disposed around a large-diameter bull gear 64. This meshes with four gears 71, 72, 73 and 74 which drive the print cylinders. The impression cylinders 31-34 are mounted inside the frame. The printing units are not shown in detail, but may be conventional, and include a train of ink rollers indicated at 31, 82, 83 and 84. The rst ink rollers may run in ink trays. The print units rest on shelves shown at 91, 92, 93 and 94. These may be carried by pivots 101, 192, 103 and 194, so that a print unit may be swung out of position for servicing or when not in use. The print units may be locked in operative position by means of clamps operated by handles shown at 111, 112, 113 and 114. The particular print units here shown are flexographic units using sticky back rubber plates.

The main drive shaft is shown at 46, and referring to FIG. 3 it drives mitre gears 76, 78 which drive a gear 8l) meshing with a gear 96 on a shaft 98. This in turn drives a pinion (FIG. 2) which meshes with the bull gear 64 previously referred to. The bull gear in turn meshes with the gears 71-74 on the print cylinders 21-24, as previously described, and turns them all in unison.

Registration in the present press in obtained manually and remains fixed. Heretofore diliculty was caused by possible later drift away from registration, but the present improved five-roll feed mechanism minimizes such drift because of its tight and positive control of the web reaching the printing press.

In FIG. 2 there are ve feed rollers marked 11, 12, 13, 14 and 15. Each roll is turned by `a gear, the gears being indicated at 121, 122, 123, 124 and 125, respectively. These gears are all equal in diameter and mesh successively, that is, gear 121 meshes with gear 122 but not with gear 123; gear 122 meshes with gear 123; gear 123 meshes with gear 124; and so on. The pitch diameter of the gears is somewhat greater than the diameter of the feed rollers, so that there is clearance between the rollers, well exceeding the thickness of the stock being handled. There is no pinching of the web, but because of the large number of feed rollers, and their closely nested relation which causes the web to be wrapped around much more than half the periphery of most rollers, the web is very tightly gripped, and the control and feed of the web is made positive.

In the particular layout here shown the web is wrapped around the three middle feed rollers for about 270, and it is wrapped around the first and last feed roller about 180 or more.

The main drive of the feed rollers is taken from a bull gear 64 (FIG. 3) which is like bull gear 64 and is driven by a pinion 1410' like pinion 100. For this purpose the bull gear meshes with a gear 126 (FIGS. `2 and 3) which in turn drives a gear 128 inside gear box 129, which meshes with a gear 130. This happens to be coaxial with the roll 28 about which the web is reversely turned before running back to the first printing unit (print cylinder 21) as was previously described in con- -nection with FIG. 1. However, it does not drive the roll 28, which is an idler.

Gear 130 drives a sun gear of planetary differential gearing generally like that used in running-register mechanisms. In FIGS. 3 and 4 this sun gear is indicated at 134 and meshes with a planet gear indicated at 136. This is connected to a companion planet gear 137 leading back to another sun gear 138 on a shaft 132 which passes through the machine to the opposite side. Actually there are three sets of planet gears 136, 137, spaced 120 apart, but the other two sets have been omitted vin FIG. 3, to simplify the drawing but are shown in FIG. 4. The planetary gearing has been omitted in FIG. 2 for clarity.

The output of the differential mechanism is applied through shaft 132 to a gear 150 (FIG. 3), which meshes with a gear 152 (FIG. 2), which in turn meshes with a gear 154 which is on the shaft 156 which carries the feed roll and the gear 125. The latter meshes with gear 124 of the adjacent feed roll, which in turn meshes with gear 123, and so on for all five feed rolls.

This main drive of the feed rolls as so far described would establish a fixed drive ratio. As previously mentioned, the linear speeds may be alike, or preferably that the feed rolls may be somewhat lower than that of the printing press.

An additional speed change motion is supplied through the differential gearing and may be initiated from any of thedrive shafts. In the present case it is initiated from the main drive shaft 46, and referring to both FIGS. 2 and 3, the drive shaft 46 carries a sprocket gear 160 driving a chain 162 which drives a sprocket gear 164 acting as the input of a standard positive innitely variable drive 166 in which a desired reduction ratio is established. A control for adjusting this is indicated at 167. The output of the PIV is at sprocket gear 168, which drives a chain 170 leading to a sprocket gear 172 the shaft of which turns a worm 174. The latter meshes with a large diameter worm gear 176 in the differential gear mechanism. Gear 176 carries the planet gears, and their revolution about the axis of shaft 132 feeds in the desired eXtra motion to the gear 150. For this purpose the two sets of planet gears should and do differ in diameter, else they would revolve idly.

y As previously mentioned, the chain and sprocket mechanism just described may feed in a forward motion, in which case the main drive of the feed rollers is set at a linear speed somewhat below that of the print cylinders. On the other hand, the linear speeds could be made alike or that of the feed rollers made faster, in which case the sprocket chain mechanism would be used to feed in a small amount of reverse motion.

Although it does not affect the invention here disclosed, it may be mentioned that the particular printing press here shown comprises two printing units at each printing station, each operating on one half the width of the web. Instead of having four printing units as would appear from FIG. Y2, there actually are eight printing units; and referring to FIG. 3, the shelves 93 and 94, the pivots 163 and 104, and the locks 113 and 114 receive printing units which are located at the right side of the press, and which print only the right half of the web. These parts are duplicated at the left, as indicated by shelves 93', 94' and pivots 103', 104' and locks 113', 114'. It is primarily for this reason that the bull gear drive is duplicated on both sides, there being a bull gear 64' like the bull gear 64, and similarly driven by a pinion like pinion 100. Both pinions are on the shaft 98. The four printing units at the left have gears meshing with bull gear 64', just as the four printing units on the right have gears which mesh with the bull gear 64.

With this kind of press, no printing is performed at the center line of the web, but that is of no consequence for some purposes. For example, in the present case the press is operating on a paper board web, for example a bleached sulphate web, coated or laminated with polyethylene and used in the manufacture of milk cartons. The web is twice as wide as needed for the cartons, and two lines of cartons are printed simultaneously. The flaps which later make up the bottom of the carton are formed at the lmiddle of the web, and these require no printing. There is accordingly a blank strip along the center of the web which makes it feasible to use the short duplicate printing units here employed.

In referring to the linear speed of the feed mechanism vbeing lower than that of the press, it may seem inconsistent to also speak of a positive grip of the web at the feed mechanism. I believe there is no inconsistency because the necessary slight slippage takes place in the printing press. It does not spoil the printed impression because we deal here with a very minute difference, say two thousandths of an inch a foot of web travel. From one viewpoint it may be said that the feed mechanism is running at substantially the same speed as the press, but that to the extent that there may be any difference at all, the difference is in the direction of keeping the web highly taut. From this viewpoint it would not matter where the slippage takes place, hutkas indicated, I believe the grip on the web of the feed mechanism is positive, or at least much more positive than the grip of the printing units, and that accordingly the minute difference here provided for the sake of tautness manifests itself as a minute and harmless slippage in the printing press.

It is believed that the construction and operation of my improved web feed mechanism, as well as the advantages thereof, will be apparent from the foregoing detailed description. It will also be apparent that while I have shown and described the invention in a preferred form, changes may be made without departing from the scope of the invention as sought to be defined in the following claims.

I claim:

1. Apparatus for operating repetitively on a moving web, and precision feed mechanism located immediately ahead of and driven from the same drive source as the apparatus for metering the web into the apparatus, said feed mechanism comprising a plurality of metering feed rollers around which the web is passed in zig-zag formation, the rollers being mounted in fixed bearings and being closely nested but separated more than the web thickness so that there is no pinching of the web between rollers, and gearing driving all of said rollers in unison, there being a gear on the shaft of each roller, the pitch diameters `of the gears being somewhat greater thanvthe roller diameters of the corresponding rollers, `and being properly proportioned to provide equal surface speed for all of the rollers, the successive gears of the successive rollers `being directly in mesh.

2. Apparatus for operating repetitively on a moving web, and precision feed mechanism located immediately ahead of and driven from the same drive source as the apparatus for metering the web into the apparatus, said feed mechanism comprising a plurality of metering feed rollers around which the web is passed in zig-zag formation, the rollers being mounted in fixed bearings and being closely nested but separated more than the web thickness so that there is no pinching of the web between rollers, and gearing driving all of said rollers in unison, there being a gear on the shaft of each rol-ler, the rollers having equal -diameters and the gears having equal diameters but the pitch diameter of the gears being somewhat greater than the rolle-r diameter, the successive gears of the successive rollers being directly in mesh.

3. Apparatus for operating repetitively on a moving web, and precision feed mechanism located immediately ahead of and driven from the same drive source as the apparatus for metering the web into the apparatus, said feed mechanism comprising a plurality of metering feed rollers around which the web is passed in zig-zag formation, the rollers being mounted in fixed bearings and being separated more than the web thickness so that there is no pinching of the web between rollers, but the lrollers being nested so closely together that the web is Wrapped around substantially more than half the periphery of most of the rollers, and gearing driving all of said rollers in unison, there being a gear on the shaft of each roller, the pitch diameters of the gears being somewhat greater than the roller diameters of the corresponding rollers, and being properly proportioned to provide equal surface speed for all of the rollers, the successive gears of the successive rollers being -directly in mesh.

4. Apparatus for operating repetitively on a moving web, and precision feed mechanism located immediately ahead of and driven from the same drive source as the apparatus for metering the web into the apparatus, said feed mechanism comprising a plurality of metering feed rollers around which the web is passed in zig-zag formation, the rollers being mounted in fixed bearings and being separated more than the web thickness so that there is no pinching of the web between rollers, ybut the rollers being nested so closely together that the web is wrapped around substantially more than half the periphery of most of the rollers, and gearing driving all of said rollers in unison, there being a gear on the shaft of each roller, the rollers having equal diameters and the gears having equal diameters but the pitch diameter of the gears being somewhat greater than the roller diameter, the successive gears of the successive rollers being directly in mesh.

5. Apparatus for operating repetitively on a moving web, and precision feed mechanism located immediately ahead of and driven from the same drive source as the apparatus for metering the web into the apparatus, said feed mechanism comprising five metering feed rollers around which the web is passed in zig-Zag formation, the rollers being mounted in fixed bearings and being separated more than the web thickness so that there is no pinching of the web between rollers, but the rollers being nested so closely together that the web is Wrapped around substantially more than half the periphery of most of the rollers, and gearing driving all of said rollers in unison, there being a gear on the shaft of each roller, the rollers having equal diameter and the gears having equal diameter but the pitch diameter of the gears being somewhat greater than the roller` diameter, the successive gears of the successive rollers being directly in mesh.

6. Apparatus as defined in claim l, including a drive shaft to drive Aboth the apparatus and the feed mechanism, planetary differential gearing like that of a running-register effective as between the apparatus and the feed 6 mechanism, and variable speed means also driven by the drive shaft to feed some speed change motion into the differential gearing.

7. Apparatus as defined in claim 5, including a drive shaft to drive both the apparatus and the feed mechanism, planetary differential gearing like that of a running-register effective as between the apparatus and the feed mechanism, and variable speed means also driven by the drive shaft to feed some speed change motion into the differential gearing.

8. Apparatus as defined in claim l, -including a drive shaft to drive both the apparatus and the feed mechan-ism, a planetary differential gearing like that of a running-register effective as between the apparatus and the feed mechanism, means also driven by the drive shaft including a positive infinitely variable drive to feed some speed change motion into the differential gear-ing, the linear speed of the feed mechanism being adusted to be very slightly less than that of the apparatus in order to maintain a taut web.

9. Apparatus as defined in claim 5, including a drive shaft to drive both `the apparatus and the feed mechanism, a planetary differential gearing like that of a runningregister effective as between the apparatus and the feed mechanism, means also driven by the drive shaft including a positive infinitely variable drive to feed some speed change motion into the differential gearing, the linear speed of the feed mechanism being adjusted to be very slightly less than that of the apparatus in order to maintain a taut web.

l0. A multicolor printing press operating on a web, and a web feed mechanism leading to` said printing press, said web feed mechanism being constructed as defined in claim l, a drive shaft to drive both the printing press and the feed mechanism, a planetary differential gear mechanism like a running-register effective as between the printing press and the feed mechanism, and variable speed means also driven by the drive shaft to feed some speed change motion into the running-register.

1d. A multicolor printing press operating on a web, and a web feed mechanism leading to said printing press, said web feed mechanism being constructed as defined in claim 5, a drive shaft to drive both the printing press and the feed mechanism, a planetary differential gear mechanism like a running-register effective as between the printing press and the feed mechanism, and variable speed means also driven by the drive shaft to feed some speed change motion into the running-register.

l2. A multicolor printing press operating on a web, and a web feed mechanism leading to said printing press, said web feed mechanism being constructed as defined in claim l, a drive shaft to drive both the printing press and the feed mechanism, planetary differential-gearing like that of a running-register effective as between the printing press and the feed mechanism, means also driven by the drive shaft including ratio gearing and a positive infinitely variable drive to feed some speed change motion into the differential gearing, the linear speed of the feed mechanism being adjusted to be slightly less than that of the printing press in order to maintain a taut web.

13. A multicolor printing press operating on a web, and a web feed mechanism leading to said printing press, said web feed mechanism being constructed as defined in claim 5, a drive shaft to drive both the printing press and the feed mechanism, planetary differential-gearing like that of a running-register effective as between the printing -press and the feed mechanism, means also driven by the drive shaft including ratio gearing and a posit-ive infinitely variable drive to feed some speed change motion into the differential gearing, the linear speed of the feed mechanism being adjusted to be slightly less than that of the printing press in order to maintain a taut web.

14. A multicolor printing press, and a cutter-creaser for operating on a web, and a web feed mechanism leading to said printing press, said web feed mechanism being constructed as defined in claim 1, a main drive shaft to drive both the press and the cutter-creaser and the feed mechanism, planetary differential-gearing like that of a running-register effective as Ibetween the main drive shaft and the feed mechanism, means also driven by the main drive shaft including a posit-ive infinitely variable drive to feed some speed change motion into the differential-gearing.

15. A multicolor printing press, and a cutter-creaser for operating lon a web, and a web feed mechan-ism 1ead ing to said printing press, said web feed mechanism being constructed as defined in claim 5, a main drive shaft to drive both the press and the cutter-creaser and the feed mechanism, planetary differential-gearing like that of a running-register effective as between the main drive shaft and t-he feed mechanism, means also driven by the main drive shaft including a positive infinitely variable drive to feed some speed change motion into the differential-gearing.

16. Web feed mechanism as defined in claim 3 in which there are iive feed -rollers which are closely nested and driven as there defined.

17. Web feed mechanism as defined in claim 3 in which there are five feed rollers which are closely nested and driven as there defined.

References Qited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,509,525 9/24 Murray et al 101-227 X 1,581,l5l| 4/26 Yetter lOl-152 2,150,016 3/39 Wood 10i-227 X 2,334,074 11/43 Coy 226-40 2,358,112 9/44 Smith lOl-228 2,504,021 4/50 Heinrich 1101-138 X 2,847,209 8/58 Olson 270-68 EUGENE R. CAPOZIO, Primary Examiner. 

1. APPARATUS FOR OPERATING REPETITIVELY ON A MOVING WEB, AND PRECISION FEED MECHANISM LOCATED IMMEDIATELY AHEAD OF AND DRIVEN FROM THE SAME DRIVE SOURCE AS THE APPARATUS FOR METERING THE WEB INTO THE APPARATUS, AND FEED MECHANISM COMPRISING A PLURALITY OF METERING FEED ROLLERS AROUND WHICH THE WEB IS PASSED IN ZIG-ZAG FORMATION, THE ROLLERS BEING MOUNTED IN FIXED BEARINGS AND BEING CLOSELY NESTED BUT SEPARATED MORE THEN THE WEB THICKNESS SO THAT THERE IS NO PINCHING OF THE WEB BETWEEN ROLLERS, AND GEARING DRIVING ALL OF SAID ROLLERS IN UNISION, THERE BEING A GEAR ON THE SHAFT OF EACH ROLLER, THE PITCH DIAMETERS OF THE GEARS BEING SOMEWHAT GREATER 